Punta Gorda Airport

Nonstop service to Providence, Rhode Island, is scheduled to begin at Punta Gorda Airport in September.

The year-round flights will operate twice weekly and begin on Sept. 28. This new service will bring Allegiant Air’s Punta Gorda-based routes to 34 cities. Fares will start as low as $38.

Providence, Allegiant’s newest destination, also will have nonstop routes to St. Petersburg and Cincinnati under the expansion.

Punta Gorda Airport has grown hand-over-fist since it brought on commercial airline service roughly a decade ago. The airport welcomed 1 million passengers for the first time last year, and the terminal recently underwent a 45,000-square-foot expansion that boosted the 16,000-square-foot space to roughly the size of a football field.

The airport has found its niche with ultra low-cost carriers. Players like Allegiant operate on a no-frills model that allows passengers to fly for minimal costs but bills them for extras such as printing tickets and bringing carry-on bags.

In November, Allegiant’s major competitor, Frontier, launched routes from Punta Gorda, adding a second commercial carrier to the Charlotte County airport.

Last month, the airport celebrated 42 consecutive months of increasing passenger traffic: 120,764 passengers in April, up more than 23 percent from the previous year.